TV Remember David Cronenberg’s masterfully unnerving 1988 thriller, Dead Ringers, with Jeremy Irons as twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot Mantle? HBO sure does, and has hired the A History of Violence helmer to exec-produce and direct the pilot for a series based on the film. Wesley Strick Doom) has scripting duties (no word yet on what freaky surgical tools he’s designing). On the film front, Cronenberg’s deciding between two projects: ”One is based on Martin Amis’ novel London Fields [which concerns a promiscuous and paranoid psychic]. The other is a script by [satirical] novelist Bruce Wagner called Maps of the Stars.”

BOOKS Cronenberg’s Violence star Viggo Mortensen is also thinking outside the film box. ”I just finished with the printers on four books of photography which Perceval Press is putting out. One of them Linger — is mine, and it’ll be ready by Dec. 1.” Photos of what, exactly? ”Unlike my [more abstract] books, this is more literal — new black-and-white photos with some poetry and stories.” And about that day job… ”There’s a really good movie — Alatriste — coming out next year. It takes place in the 17th century, when Spain was the superpower of the world. My character is a soldier, and through his eyes you see the high and low of Spanish society.”

TV Former NFL great Jerry Rice, actor Robert Wagner, Soap Talk’s Lisa Rinna, and Nick Lachey’s younger bro, Drew, are among the aspiring hoofers rumored to be a part of the second season of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, which debuts Jan. 5.

MOVIES Here’s one for the No Deal Report: Slumping Sony has ordered the planned 8th Voyage of Sinbad to walk the plank. Envisioned as an effects-driven vehicle for his whoa-ness Keanu Reeves and director Rob Cohen XXX), the project was sunk by the latter’s summer flop, Stealth.

TVLaguna Beach princess Lauren — or LC to friends — is getting her own reality-show spin-off on MTV. The Hills will track the L.A. Fashion Institute student as she juggles friends, a Teen Vogue internship, and (in theory) schoolwork.